"Even if you want to do this kind of thing, can't you have some decency, at least? To even strip away poor Crystal's position… truly, the depths you can sink to… there's no limit, is there?"
Being in a position below that villainess was already a great 'loss of face' for him, even knowing that the exam results were surely rigged. But when he thought about the sheer injustice faced by Crystal, it wasn't worth mentioning at all.
"Oh, my poor Crystal… What if she starts to think she'll never be treated fairly in this world because of this vile bitch? To attempt to taint my angel over and over again, I'll definitely not forgive you!"
==========
While the hero was still lost in his delusions, Emilia didn't know what kind of trouble Crystal was facing. However, just knowing that the girl had slipped directly from the expected first all the way to the third position was enough for her to know that something wasn't right.
After all, even she hadn't expected such a thing.
Emilia had only wanted to try her best in the exams, making the best possible use of her time as she could and focusing to the best of her ability. As for what position she ended up getting, she didn't particularly care, except the higher, the better.
To get the first place was, of course, for the best. However, she had been studying from Crystal for all this time, and knew all too well what her level was.
To put it simply, beating that girl in academics was impossible.
Such a feeling had never entered her mind when studying with Randy, whom she could easily conceive surpassing in any field with enough time and effort, so it was no shock at all that she exceeded his score.
As for Randy besting Crystal, that was just a joke.
"Something must be wrong…"
==========
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the headquarters of the White Deer Corporation was cheery as both of Danielle's parents received the news of their daughter's exemplary performance in the semester exams.
Mr. White couldn't help but grin widely. "As expected of my daughter. I knew her intelligence would shine one day, especially with all the studying she had been doing with Randy recently. See, I made a good choice, didn't I, dear?"
Recently, he had been somewhat regretting his decision to set Randy up as a potential match for Emilia.
After all, the boy seemed to be making quite a lot of questionable moves recently, spending more and more private time with Emilia. Although there was always the excuse of 'studying', the man couldn't help but wonder sometimes if that was what they were really doing in there.
Especially when he heard the news of the boy directly starting to stay overnight, he almost blew his top.
Unfortunately, his own eldest daughter seemed to have been converted to the 'enemy' side, and had convinced him not only to not remove the boy from the mansion, but also not 'interfere' with Emilia and her now 'boyfriend'.
But all those regrets seemed to have been instantly washed out now, because if they hadn't been studying day and night, how could these results have come out now?
Not to mention that Emilia, his pride and joy, was first. Even that boy was second!
This was not some local small time school where such positions could be casually obtained. It was the place where all the extraordinary students who aimed high in their lives gathered from all over the country. To say that the competition was 'fierce' would be an understatement.
The hint of gloating in his voice wasn't hidden at all, and Mrs. White rolled her eyes in scorn. "Oh yeah? Are you very proud?"
Mr. White nodded. "Of course, if not for me sending Randy over, our Emilia would still be performing poorly. Even if she tried her best, her results may be average, perhaps, if that. Isn't it better this way?"
Mrs. White snorted. "Do we need our daughter to have excellent results? It's just the same either way, more importantly, I had a talk with her over the phone a few days ago, and—"
Mr. White knew that his wife was a sore loser, and would never 'admit defeat' when she lost an argument. He didn't think whatever topic she had 'discussed' was serious, or even real at all, and just waved his hand. "Yeah yeah, whatever. I can't wait till this dreaded deal is over, and we can go back to meet our daughter and congratulate her personally."
Mrs. White sneered. "Congratulate her for what, exactly?"
"Her excellent performance, of course?"
"Oh, since you waved me off so confidently, I thought you knew."
Suddenly, Mr. White had a bad feeling. "K-Knew what?"
Mrs. White chuckled. "I talked to our daughter today."
Her husband gulped nervously, wondering what it could be. "O-Oh?"
Mrs. White decided that being direct was the 'best approach' in this situation, especially with her husband's attitude, so she just smiled. "That boy has been spending so much time in her room, so I asked her if she was using protection."
Mr. White almost choked. Although he had sometimes suspected such activities, he had always denied them from the depths of his heart. How could his pure, innocent daughter really engage in such acts? Absurd!
But Mrs. White didn't care for his disbelief at all. "She got so shy and embarrassed… do you know what that means?"
The man couldn't help but sweat. "Uh, I would rather not…"
His wife couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Don't act like a virgin, dear. Not even your daughter is pure anymore, no thanks to you pushing her into a wolf's hands. Also, they're clearly not using any, so I'm expecting grandchildren very soon."
"Urk…"
"Well, I suppose this is also a part of your 'plan', huh?"
"O-Of course not!" Mr. White sputtered indignantly, his eyes open wide in shock.
He even felt like strangling that bastard right away. Didn't he make it clear that he was only her fiancé now, and the marriage part would only come like… ten years later?